Andrew, I don’t know how you’ll feel about this, but apparently you were channeling Mark Steyn last night.
Unlike these men, unlike most other senior Republicans, Ronald Reagan saw Soviet Communism for what it was: a great evil. Millions of Europeans across half a continent from Poland to Bulgaria, Slovenia to Latvia live in freedom today because he acknowledged that simple truth when the rest of the political class was tying itself in knots trying to pretend otherwise. That
You may have seen it already, but Blackfive has a nice roundup of D-Day posts to commemorate today’s anniversary.
I may have further thoughts on the passing of the Great Communicator later today, particularly in the context of the somber anniversary in northwest France, but for now go check out these roundups of other blog commentary from Tim Blair and Laughing Wolf.
Senator Kerry is suspending his election campaign in respect for President Reagan’s passing.
I’m going to channel Mickey Kaus here, and note that this is a good deal for him. It lets him look classy, while minimizing his exposure to the American public for a few days, which should boost his poll ratings.
And in seriousness, his statement today was classy (surprisingly, to me). I didn’t expect him to say anything unclassy, but I thought he might avoid comment, or have minimal comment, so as not to upset his Bush (and Reagan) hating base.
By my count, we now have four living ex-Presidents–Ford, Carter, Bush I, and Clinton. Before President Reagan’s demise today, we had five, and I believe that’s the most that we’ve ever had. It seems unlikely that we’d have ever had more than that in our nation’s history, given the lengths of terms and the ages at which presidents normally become president, but does anyone know for sure?
Of course, if one wanted to be macabre, one could start a pool on who will be the next to go, and if it will occur before the current president joins their ranks (which of course depends a lot on what happens in November…).
Ronald Reagan has died, a day before the sixtieth anniversary of the Normandy landing. It looks like Andrew Lloyd’s sources were right a few days ago. Given this weekend’s somber remembrances, it might be appropriate to replay his D-Day speech from twenty years ago (though that would put a lot of pressure on President Bush to deliver a real humdinger tomorrow if it’s not to be overshadowed).
I never voted for him (I voted Libertarian), but he was one of the great presidents of the twentieth century, and I’m glad he won both times (and was at the time, considering the alternatives). The Soviet Union may have collapsed eventually, but there’s zero doubt in my mind that he accelerated the process, and broke us out of the failed policy of containment. He was a man of great vision, and in that, we haven’t had a president since, including the present one, that was his match.
Of course, in my mind he’s been dead for years, and it’s sad that we give so much reverence to the body and too little to the mind. I don’t know if he was suffering toward the end, but this has to be a sorrow tinctured with relief for his long-suffering family.
It’s probably a little late for this year, but Iowahawk has a general-purpose commencement address for anyone who’s gotten suckered into having to give one. It’s (as usual) a hoot.
Boy, now nobody can accuse Senator Kerry of not having a sense of humor.
My sides still hurt from the all the hijinks and hilarity.
Oh, and in case you didn’t get it, that was a joke.
Or was it (like Senator Kerry’s supposed bon mot) sarcasm? Either way, I guess it beats calling it another flip-flop (“I was going to announce my VP before I wasn’t going to…”)
Boy, now nobody can accuse Senator Kerry of not having a sense of humor.
My sides still hurt from the all the hijinks and hilarity.
Oh, and in case you didn’t get it, that was a joke.
Or was it (like Senator Kerry’s supposed bon mot) sarcasm? Either way, I guess it beats calling it another flip-flop (“I was going to announce my VP before I wasn’t going to…”)
Boy, now nobody can accuse Senator Kerry of not having a sense of humor.
My sides still hurt from the all the hijinks and hilarity.
Oh, and in case you didn’t get it, that was a joke.
Or was it (like Senator Kerry’s supposed bon mot) sarcasm? Either way, I guess it beats calling it another flip-flop (“I was going to announce my VP before I wasn’t going to…”)